Free Download of the movie "Lost in the Stratosphere"

Reaching for the Stars

In the 1960’s the race to land a man on the moon was on everyone’s mind. In 1934, with airplanes taking brave pilots off the ground, men and women were already dreaming about going higher and higher, trying to discover what was above the clouds that floated in the sky.

On October 23, 1934 explorer husband and wife team Jean and Jeannette Piccard flew in a gondola under a huge balloon almost eleven miles into the Stratosphere over Lake Erie. They left the earth in front of forty-five thousand spectators at the Ford Airport in Dearborn Michigan and landed near Cadiz, Ohio. No woman ever flew higher off the earth until 1963.

Less than a month after that record-breaking flight this movie premiered in theaters. It was probably filmed in the months leading up to the Piccard flight while interest around the world was focused on the Piccard’s upcoming attempt.

William Cagney, James Cagney’s brother, plays the part of Tom ‘Soapy’ Cooper. Along with his buddy Woody, they fly open cockpit planes to deliver air mail around the country. They are both in the newly formed army air corp. These two men are best friends, competing for the girls in town and also for the best flying challenges that the Army has to offer.

This leads to that, and both men fall in love with the same lady, but this lady only loves one of them and not the other. This will cause the two men to become mortal enemies just at the time that they are needed the most. The Army is going to launch an experimental lighter-than-air balloon carrying a sealed container with the two men and sensitive recording instruments closer to outer space than any man has ever ventured. Once in the air higher than man has ever ascended before, disaster strikes and the men must either perish with the ship or bail out and float safely to earth. One of the men will trick the other into bailing out while he rides the wild ship into the unknown reaches of the stratosphere. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.